Performance on the PSC Criteria Gap national - cross-border 1 9 83 8 Home Member State 1 1 65 8 8 7 Performance per industry 57 67 48 41 44 4 44 4 7 9 4 2 3 I. Quality and availability of information II. Transactionality III. Accessibility for of e-procedures cross-border use Overall (PT) Obligatory (PT) IV. Usability Voluntary (PT) Host Member State Temp 35 48 3 2 4 1 2 29 Host Member State 1 Business Services Construction Food, Beverages and Accomodation Personal Care The PSC assessment The PSCs are assessed by mystery shoppers according to four PSC Charter criteria, which are displayed in the upper left corner: Mystery shoppers have assessed the PSCs from the perspective of three scenarios: The performance of the PSCs is measured across four major industries, which are: 1. Availability of information indicates to what extent information about a procedure is available online. - Permanent establishment of a business in their home country; - Construction; - Permanent establishment of a business in another country; 2. Transactionality of e-procedures indicates to what extent one can complete a procedure online. - Food, Beverages and Accommodation; - Cross-border provision of temporary services. - Personal care. Overall scores for these scenarios are presented in the spider chart above, and are benchmarked against the average. The results per industry are displayed in the column chart above. This chart shows differences per industry and deviations from the average. 3. Cross-border accessibility indicates to what extent the portal is accessible for foreigners. 4. Usability indicates the ease and speed of use of government procedures. - Business Services;
Performance per subcriterion Average Score Average Score (Overall) Degree of available information Quality and availability of information Country Score Navigation tools & retrieval of information 43 Structure of information 48 59 67 Procedures e-completion & Transactionality Transactionality of e-procedures Payment tools Track & Trace 27 e-completion by foreign user Accessibility for cross-border users 32 72 7 Distinction establishment & service provision Multilingual 96 76 41 41 Availability & quality of services Usability 57 64 54 Ease of use Speed of use POOR PERFORMERS AVERAGE PERFORMERS The bar chart above presents the performance of the PSC on the PSC Charter criteria and sub-criteria. The bars and blue figures represent the country score per criterion/sub-criterion. The country scores are benchmarked against the average, as represented by the purple figures in each of the respective bars. VERY GOOD PERFORMERS 1%
Performance per requirement Quality and availability of information Company registration Transactionality of e-procedures 65 74 69 71 General business license 41 34 Recognition & special licenses Operations and location 51 Social security* 23 Employing cross-border* 34 51 51 27 1% 86 48 44 26 59 38 82 Usability 39 39 Country Score 45 Tax and financial* Cross-border accessibility 1% 37 1% average to POOR PERFORMERS 4 to AVERAGE PERFORMERS 75 to 1% VERY GOOD PERFORMERS Score per requirement The graph above presents the scores for the seven categories of administrative requirements per PSC Charter criterion. The categories of requirements are displayed on the left. The score of each of the requirements is benchmarked against the average. * This category of requirements is not obliged under the Services Directive and can thus be perceived as voluntary requirements 1%
Policy Context of the Point of Single Contact Status and progress Background Trend and evolution Structure of the PSC Strategy and policy objectives Consecutive assessments in 211/12, 213 and 214/15 place Promote the existence of more public services through a policy of digital among the average performers with overall score below the EU average. The Portuguese PSC provides information on procedures and for most The key improvement was made in 212 as a result of the overhaul of procedures it redirects users to other business portals (for registering for the portal. VAT, to the Portal das Financas for instance). It functions as an entry Increase the simplification of processes, reducing the administrative by default. point or gateway for entrepreneurs and businesses. The PSC exists burden for citizens and companies. Initially, the portal mainly offered services on general requirements such separately from the main state portal and provides services for as company registration, but after 212 it has been enriched with a businesses and entrepreneurs only. Foster the use of electronic authentication and signature in Public Administration. number of sector-specific requirements. However, comparative analysis of the results from 213 and 214/15 shows a decline in performance as Promote the digital by default principle through an appropriate legal regards availability and quality of information provided, further emphasiz- framework. ing the problem of missing information on specific requirements. Public administrations can rationalize their resources, whereas interactions are facilitated, which necessarily results in cost reductions. This is confirmed by the 214/15 scores focussing on the requirement level where many general requirements score rather high, but a number Governance of specific requirements are not covered at all and thus marked low. Both 213 and 214/15 assessments show that performs well as regards availability of online procedures but should invest more in tools facilitating payment and tracking application. No significant variations were detected in findings regarding accessibility of services for The Agency for the Administrative Modernization is the managing body of Initiatives the PSC. cross-border users where remains close to the EU average. Authorities responsible at a policy level for both the PSC and the wider e-government strategy are the Minister in the Cabinet of the Prime There is the intention to make the PSC the single point of contact for all In general, users in all three assessments suggested upgrading Minister and for Regional Development (political level) and the Agency for the permit and authorizations regarding construction and see exploration. user-friendliness of the portal. The most significant gap in the results between 211/12 and 213 on the one hand and 214/15 on the other is found in the quality of assistance services which should urge PSC management to introduce measures to assure the quality of the service in this field, in particular for foreign users. the Administrative Modernization. First steps towards the implementation of the Only Once Principle are taken and the PSC will be an important part of this strategy. A new legislation is being finished and it will further simplify the economic and industrial activity in. These diplomas will impact the PSC.
Point of Single Contact The Way Forward Strengths Weaknesses Users are able to complete procedures online. Mystery shoppers indicate that various procedures, such as the General information is available, in depth information regarding specific topics (such as a licence for registration of economic activity, can be completed fully online, which is also the case for company plumbing) and sectors is missing. This is particularly true when information or procedures have to come registration and on voluntary requirements (Tax and financial, Social security). from regional or local authorities, as this comment illustrates: This item is under the responsibility of the Although there is room for improvement as regards the online completion of procedures by foreign users, the municipalities but not all the municipalities have the complete procedure online. This test was made in multilingual element is well in order. This is positive as language remains one of the most persistent barriers Lisbon. Furthermore, the information is rather unstructured. The relative low score on ease of use of the for cross-border service provision. Besides, the Portuguese PSC makes a clear distinction between PSC might be explained by these aspects. information on cross-border temporary or permanent establishment, which contributes to the good The usability of the PSC is low compared to other countries. This is mainly caused by a low quality of performance with regards to the cross-border accessibility of the portal; provided assistance services. Mystery shoppers indicate that assistance services were not working, responses were not in time and answers were of low quality (e.g. they responded with a link to the website, but the information needed was not there). Furthermore, the ease and speed of use are not matching customer expectations, resulting in a poor customer experience. At a policy level, several authorities are responsible for the Portuguese PSC governance model. This combined with a lack of understanding of the PSC objectives by other Portuguese government departments may hamper further improvement into second generation PSC s. Recommendations Overall, the quality of Portuguese PSC is below average. Areas of improvements are: 1. Provide more and better information on the PSC. Not only generic information, but in-depth descriptions of how to complete specific procedures or needed requirements. Information should be well-structured, according to the business life cycle. Furthermore, it needs to be supported by navigation tools (e.g. search function, index). 2. Seize the opportunity of the new legislation to improve on the PSC criteria. 3. Focus on improving the usability of the PSC, especially the available assistance services. A well-structured and logical portal, in accordance with business logic, increases the usability and findability of information for both national and foreign residents. Customer journeys can be used targeted towards specific life cycle events to present necessary information related to these events. This will increase the usability and findability of information on the portals. Continuously collecting customer feedback could also be important for improving the usability of services. High quality services decrease complaints and support requests, hence increasing efficiency of the PSC for the public authorities involved. 4. Continue efforts to implement the Once Only Principle on the PSC. This will presumably increase the amount of pre-filled data, which will ultimately lead to a higher speed of use. 5. Make sure the authorities involved in the governance are aligned, in order to make improvements on the PSC. It is recommended to designate one responsible authority.